With almost two months in the books, MLB The Show 19 continues to hold the attention of its users with a steady stream of new weekly content and community engagement. Sure, there are some things that need to be addressed sooner rather than later, but as a whole, the game seems to be holding its value quite nicely.
For #SonyPartners member ClutchSilver, or as some fondly know him Bruce Wayne Schmitz, this year’s iteration of The Show and Diamond Dynasty are the best he’s seen.
“So far, my impressions are it is really good,” Schmitz said. “At this point, aside from some quality of life improvements, the game has really pulled me in.”
Schmitz said San Diego Studio’s concerted efforts to interact with the community through Twitch streams and social media have been very effective in keeping the game fresh and keeping attention toward what’s on the horizon.
“It seems every week there’s something new being teased or released,” Schmitz said. “It keeps us talking about the game and that’s a big part of [keeping momentum].”
But without skipping too far ahead, about those “quality of life improvements” the game still needs.
“Yeah, there’s some animation issues that are affecting quite a few people,” Schmitz said. “I would like to see fielding addressed soon. That warning track glitch where players won’t lock onto balls hit deep…yeah.”
There’s also been a fair bit of criticism from players at the Championship and World Series level rankings in Ranked Seasons. Traction has certainly been building around an idea that the hitting meta plays completely differently at those levels than at some lower levels. At the time of this interview, Schmitz hadn’t yet reached that echelon of play, but recognized the concerns.
“Of course I want the game to be better and balanced,” Schmitz said. “But I think people are going about it the wrong way. Taking to social media to throw developers and the studio under the bus isn’t constructive. Complaining is one thing, but taking it too far can make the community look bad as a whole.”
Having been an integral member of the community for a few years now, Schmitz had the opportunity to have his likeness included in this year’s game. Selected as one of the nine #SonyPartners, Schmitz was the first partner selected to receive his very own cache of Moments for Diamond Dynasty. The reward for completing said moments was an 87 overall Diamond Ken Griffey Jr. card — more specifically his 1987 rookie card.
Schmitz is a die-hard Mariners fan, so it should have come as no surprise Griffey was his selection to unveil when given the opportunity. His fandom also falls right in line with some of his favorite cards the game has to offer.
“Man oh man, I’m really liking the 93 overall Ichiro card,” Schmitz said. “Totally rakes.”
As for some non-Mariners?
“Well there’s the 2019 glitch, Cody Bellinger,” Schmitz said. “He’s this year’s version of Joey Gallo.”
Schmitz would go on to add the Padres collection reward Adrian Gonzalez and the Diamond Joe Torre as two cards that have been stapled into his lineup for much of the year.
It’s still reasonably early in this year’s MLB The Show life cycle, but Schmitz had two parting thoughts about where he’d like to see this game go in the summer months.
“I’m hoping the current aggressive content schedule sticks around,” he said. “No lulls, no dark periods. Keep us talking. That’s why ’18 fizzled. San Diego Studio has something special in Diamond Dynasty. It’s the deepest, most accessible ultimate team mode there is out there right now.”
Be sure to check out some of ClutchSilver’s content on a number of platforms as he is pumping out quality content on a weekly basis.
Published: May 15, 2019 01:58 pm